Cryo-electron microscopy (3DEM) is a field of structural biology that deals with the determination of 3D structures of macromolecular complexes and cells. This emerging field helps to bridges the gap between cell biology and crystallography/NMR.

EMDataBank is the unified global portal for the deposition and retrieval of 3DEM density maps, atomic models and associated metadata.

In order to test if this type of data would import into Sketchfab (SF), various structures were downloaded from the above site. After conversion into acceptable formats, the models were uploaded to SF and embedded on the page above.

Importing Cryo-electron microscopy (3DEM) data into Sketchfab

Cryo-electron tomography of in situ flagellar motor of Borrelia burgdorferi FlgG mutant (EMD-5632) was downloaded from the EMDataBank imported in Sketchfab (SF) using standard methods. A volume function was used to color the model.

Once the protein was imported into SF, lighting and background image were adjusted. The SF generated embed code was copied and pasted onto this page (see Fig. 1). Click the “Play” button to start the interactivity.

Use the arrows located on the bottom of the viewer ( ) to navigate to the various positions!

The ability to embed interactive protein structures directly into websites may be very useful for online scientific publications.